1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure pertains to the field of product labeling. In particular, the present disclosure pertains to electronically modifiable product labeling that may, in some embodiments, be applied to or form a part of products that have configurable or otherwise dynamic characteristics. That is, characteristics or desirability that vary over time or characteristics that may be selected or determined at or after advanced stages of manufacturing processes.
2. Description of Related Art
The challenges that accompany marketing, labeling and positioning products abound. These challenges only increase where products have various different xe2x80x9cflavorsxe2x80x9d which may be sold at different prices or under different marketing schemes. It may be disadvantageous to limit knowledge included in product labeling to information available at the time of initial manufacture.
For example, integrated circuits (ICs) are typically manufactured with numerous individual units (known as die) on a wafer. Testing the wafer prior to packaging each individual die is complicated by the small size of the features (e.g., contacts) on the integrated circuit die. Additionally, the package itself alters certain operating characteristics of the completed product. Therefore, some or even most of the testing of an IC is typically done after the integrated circuit has been packaged.
As a result, information about the IC is not determined until after reaching an advanced stage of manufacturing. Removing an IC from a manufacturing-type process to test the IC and then returning the IC to another manufacturing-type flow for labeling may be inefficient or inconvenient. Additionally, unlabelled products may be confused between testing and labeling. It would be preferable to complete manufacturing, including labeling, prior to the testing which finally determines the IC product characteristics. However, prior art labels or packaging are typically not easily and cleanly modifiable and/or are not sufficiently tamperproof to prevent fraudulent representation of the IC.
Providing adequate labeling that reflects information determined late in the manufacturing process or even after the manufacturing process is a common challenge across many different products and in many industries. Often, the use of static or pre-printed labels is delayed until the relevant characteristics of the product which are included on those labels are finally determined. As is true with ICs, this approach may be inefficient, susceptible to fraudulent alteration, and/or may not provide sufficient labeling flexibility for a wide variety of products.
The present disclosure describes a product having a label portion that is electrically modifiable.